Beam Reach

Orca "logging" for hours at Lime Kiln!

When killer whales remain at the surface for more than a few seconds, essentially floating with their dorsal fins consistently out of the water, the behavior is sometimes called “logging.”  I’ve seen orcas log when alone — often in tidal fronts — and once in a large group during a “ceremony.”  But never like this…

On September 20th, my father’s birthday, from 12:54-13:12 I photographed what appeared to be an orca “logging.”  It was completely motionless relative to the gentle ebb tide during this 16 minute period.  It passed Whale Watch Park at the typical distance of about ~200m offshore and I can only imagine the tourists at Lime Kiln lighthouse were overjoyed by the rare sight. We observed it for a couple hours and it never submerged, accelerated, or changed direction rapidly.

I became concerned when I later examined all of the photographs taken through a telephoto lens.  The pigmentation of the whale seemed off.  The dorsal fin was beyond raggedy…  I reached for the phone to contact the stranding network.  And then I realized I had been fooled by the Orcinus version of a wooden duck decoy.

On the Cat’s Cradle, we marveled and then chuckled.  Why not keep it for training Beam Reach students, or testing them on the first day of class when we traditionally visit Lime Kiln to formulate our initial research questions!?  Alas, the wind arose and we were forced to raise sails and celebrate by coasting away downwind…